Adare Manor will host the first ever Irish Festival of Speed this August Bank holiday weekend (Sunday 31st July 2011).

The idea came from a group of like-minded motorsport and motoring enthusiasts who wanted to bring a “Goodwood” style Festival of Speed to Ireland. In addition it will commemorate the rich racing heritage of the region, in particular the 75th anniversary of the 1936 Limerick Grand Prix.

A spokesman for the IFS said “The quaint village of Adare and the grounds of the 5-star Adare Manor Hotel were chosen as the perfect location for the festival. In keeping with the venue, the event will be a first class one, particularly in the quality of our competition and display cars, as well as the numerous family attractions.”

Among the many and varied events our feature event this year will be the Limerick Motor Club Sprint - a competition sprint of about 1.5kms on the IFS asphalt race track.

The emphasis, for this invitation only event, will be on the best quality as well as the most appropriate cars with some cars appearing on display in Ireland for the very first time.

Formula 1 racing will be represented in the form of Rubens Barrichello’s Jordan F1 car along with the R5 Jaguar F1 car as driven by David Coulthard and Mark Webber. British manufacturer Morgan, will display its new 3 Wheeler at the event for the first time in Ireland and a very exciting new sports car will also be unveiled in Ireland for the first time.

Many other attractions are planned including:

* Classic Car displays with some of the most beautiful and exotic cars available

* Our Concours d’Elegence competition welcomes a host of visitors from around the world to our annual celebration of the automobile

* Owners Clubs will be invited including Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, Porsche and many others